My top 10 favs of 2020: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

My top 10 favs of 2020: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 6, 2020 / No Comments

Amidst the dumpster fire that was 2020, I consumed 64 books, 48 TV programs, 63 movies and many podcasts. These were my favorites:

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – FICTION

1. If It Bleeds by Stephen King

2. “Fangs” by Sarah Andersen

3. “Book Love” by Debbie Tung

4. “The Starless Sea” by Erin Morgenstern

5. “Dead Things” by Stephen Blackmoore

6. “Broken Souls” by Stephen Blackmoore

7. “The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)” by Terri-Lynne DeFino

8. “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

9. “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune

10. “One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days” by Giles Paley-Phillips

(Honorable mentions: “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fannie Flagg, “Happily Ever After & Everything In Between” by Debbie Tung, “Before the Fall” by Noah Hawley, “The Chain” by Adrian McKinty and “Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre” by Max Brooks.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – NONFICTION

1. “52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning and a Perfect Crust” by William Alexander

2. “Spectacles” by Sue Perkins

3. “One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America” by Gene Weingarten

4. “At Home: A Short History of Private Life” by Bill Bryson

5. “Chase Darkness With Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders” by Billy Jensen

6. “The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden” by William Alexander

7. “Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me and Nearly Broke My Heart” by William Alexander

8. “Container Gardening Month by Month: A Monthly Listing of Tips and Ideas for Creating a Professional Container Garden” by Gloria Daniels

9. “My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir” by Jason B. Rosenthal

10. “The Ungarnished Truth: A Cooking Contest Memoir” by Ellie Mathews

(Honorable mentions: “Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving” by Mo Rocca, “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death” by Caitlin Doughty, “101 Organic Gardening Hacks” by Shawna Coronado, “If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now: Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie” by Christopher Ingraham and “The World According to Tom Hanks: The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America’s Most Decent Guy” by Gavin Edwards.)

Overall reading ratio: I read 18,979 pages — 57% fiction, 43% nonfiction; 48% male authors, 52% female authors.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS

1. Escape to the Country
2. Gardener’s World
3. Love Your Garden
4. The Great British Baking Show
5. Somebody Feed Phil
6. Travelers
7. Evil
8. Chef’s Table: BBQ
9. Why Women Kill
10. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

(Honorable mentions: 9-1-1, Supernatural, Diagnosis, The Mandalorian, Lenox Hill, America’s Test Kitchen, Nadiya’s Time to Eat, Grand Designs, Flashpoint, The Resident, 9-1-1 Lonestar and Barry.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. The Booksellers
2. If Anything Happens I Love You
3. Dear Santa
4. The Report
5. 1917
6. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
7. Bushwick
8. Betty White: First Lady of Television
9. The Quiet Place
10. Kedi

(Honorable mentions: The Old Guard, Enola Holmes, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Marriage Story, Toy Story 4, Christopher Robin, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story and Onward.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi
2. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
3. Small Town Dicks
4. Against the Rules
5. Mobituaries
6. Christmas Past
7. 99% Invisible
8. Clear+Vivid With Alan Alda
9. The Anthropocene Reviewed
10. David Tennant Does A Podcast With…
and
Sue Perkins: An Hour or So With… (tie)

(Honorable mentions: Radiolab, Criminal, Death Sex & Money, Sidedoor, Fresh Air, Dear Hank & John, Nocturne, Awards Chatter, The Christmas Stocking and The Daily.)
My favorite TV shows and movies of the 2010s

December 31, 2019 / No Comments

Comedies and dramas, thrillers and mysteries, romance and horror, plus a wee bit of gardening and baking — that pretty much describes my viewing tastes of the 2010s. So here they are, in alphabetical order, my favorites from the past decade. In that generally quiet period between Christmas and New Year’s or during the darkest winter night, when you’re looking for something new to watch, you simply can’t go wrong with one of these:

TV

Broadchurch
Chuck
The Closer
Daredevil
Downton Abbey
Elementary
Escape to the Country
Forever
The Good Wife
Grace and Frankie
The Great British Baking Show
Grimm
Jessica Jones
The Kominsky Method
Leverage
Love Your Garden
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
NCIS
One Day at a Time
Penny Dreadful
Person of Interest
Ruth & Erica
Sense8
Sherlock
Stranger Things
Supernatural
This Is Us
True Blood
White Collar

MOVIES

About Time
The Age of Adaline
The Butler
Gravity
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Hidden Figures
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
Last Flag Flying
The Ledge
The Merry Gentleman
Midnight in Paris
Obit
Spotlight
Super 8
That Guy…Who Was In That Thing
Yesterday
My top 10 favs of 2019: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 12, 2019 / No Comments

Amidst the madness of the world, I consumed 59 books, 46 movies, dozens of TV programs and many podcasts this year. These were my favorites:

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS

1. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede

2. “The Institute” by Stephen King

3. “The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars” by America’s Test Kitchen

4. “The Complete Slow Cooker: From Appetizers to Desserts – 400 Must-Have Recipes That Cook While You Play (or Work)” by America’s Test Kitchen

5. “Cook It in Cast Iron: Kitchen-Tested Recipes for the One Pan That Does It All” by Cook’s Country

6. “Britain by the Book” by Oliver Tearle

7. “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean

8. “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett

9. “Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier” by Vincent Wyckoff

10. “Something Warm From the Oven: Baking Memories, Making Memories” by Eileen Goudge

(Honorable mentions: “Christmas Teatime: Celebrating the Holiday with Afternoon Tea” by Lorna Ables Reeves, “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen, “The Story of The Great British Bake Off” by Anita Singh, “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” by Neil Gaiman, “Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir” by Ruth Reichl, “The Hit” by David Baldacci, “Sleeping Beauties” by Stephen and Owen King, “Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast” by Bill Richardson, “Have a Nice Day” by Billy Crystal and Quinton Peeple, “The Innocent” by David Baldacci, “Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig, “The Dreamers” by Karen Thompson Walker, “Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs” by Monty Don, “Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey” by A.J. Jacobs and “Lights on the Sea” by Miquel Reinaand.)

Overall reading ratio: I read 17,501 pages — 53% fiction, 47% nonfiction; 61% male authors, 30% female authors, 9% other.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1. The Great British Baking Show
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3. Escape to the Country
4. Gardeners’ World
5. Love Your Garden
6. Downton Abbey
7. The Kominsky Method
8. One Day at a Time
9. Broadchurch
10. Big Dreams Small Spaces

(Honorable mentions: Escape to the Continent, Shetland, A Million Little Things, 9-1-1, Santa Clarita Diet, A Discovery of Witches, Stranger Things, Modern Love, Elementary, Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father, Jack Whitehall: At Large, Jessica Jones, Stephen Fry in America, Good Omens, Grace and Frankie, Supernatural, The Bodyguard, Comedians in Cars Having Coffee and Grimm.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. Yesterday
2. If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
3. Avengers: Endgame
4. Never Surrender
5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
6. Finding Hygge
7. Judy
8. Downton Abbey
9. Doctor Sleep
10. Brene Brown: The Call to Courage

(Honorable mentions: Klaus, Blackkklansman, Green Book, Shazam, Captain Marvel, Jumanji: The Next Level, Knives Out and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
2. Small Town Dicks
3. Mobituaries
4. Christmas Past
5. 10 Minute Writers Workshop
6. 99% Invisible
7. Clear+Vivid With Alan Alda
8. The Anthropocene Reviewed
9. Radiolab
10. Criminal

(Honorable mentions: David Tennant Does A Podcast With…, Death, Sex & Money, Sidedoor, Fresh Air, Dear Hank & John, Nocturne, Let Me Google That, The Bookshelf, Reply All, Rumble Strip and The Christmas Stocking.)
Last month in pop culture

June 3, 2019 / No Comments

Best TV show I saw: “Gardeners World.” Thanks to BritBox, I’ve fallen hard for this BBC2 show about gardening. Hosted by the knowledgeable Monty Don, the program shares tips on starting a garden, maintaining a garden, designing a garden and prepping a garden for each new season.

As a very amateur gardener — one with a black thumb, no less — I have found this show to be invaluable while I attempt my first container garden (see picture above). Even if gardening isn’t your thing, “Gardeners World” is a lovely way to relax after a long week and remember the beauty of nature.

I also enjoyed: Dreaming about the future while watching “Escape to the Country” and enjoying the Devil’s antics during a rewatch of “Lucifer.”

Best movie I saw: M and I took in a second viewing of “Avengers: Endgame” before he flew to Texas for his summer roadtrip. As a huge Marvel fan (yes, I’ve seen all the movies multiple times), I found “Endgame” to be a solid conclusion to a long and exciting series of films.

I also watched: “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” which was better than Chapter 2, but still not the gut-punch that Chapter 1 was. That said, this fast-paced ultra-violent action film will satisfy anyone who enjoys a well-choreographed fight scene.

Best thing I heard: The “Tetris and the Seed Potatoes of Leningrad” episode of “The Anthropocene Reviewed” podcast. I learned a lot about both topics, the former more lighthearted than the latter, and continued to think about them in the weeks following the listening session. I give this episode five stars.

I also listened to: A bunch of classic tunes that I added to my “workout” playlist. Then I took said playlist to the gym. Haven’t been back there in months. Still hate absolutely everything about working out, but the tunes were good. New additions include “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio, “3 am” by Matchbox Twenty” “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette and a great cover of “White Rabbit” by Haley Reinhart (perfect for cooldown).

Best thing I read: “The Dreamers” by Karen Thompson Walker (no relation). A mysterious illness that triggers perpetual sleep hits a small college town in California and chaos ensues. I’m with Josh Lyman on this one; the apocalypse won’t involve zombies or nuclear weapons. It’ll be some pandemic of a disease we thought was cured a long time ago. However, if the end of civilization involves a sleeping sickness, I’m fine with that. Sure beats bleeding from the eyeballs or setting yourself on fire (I’m looking at you, “The Hot Zone” and “The Fireman.”).

I’m also reading: “The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book’s Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey” by Margaret Leslie Davis. There are fewer than 50 original copies of the Gutenberg Bible in existence and only one (#45) has ever been owned by a woman. Davis tracks the entire life cycle of that copy, from its creation by Johannes Gutenberg to the obsessed collector who spent decades trying to add it to her private library. A fascinating tale for bibliophiles.

My current desktop picture:
My Top 10 favs of 2018: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 16, 2018 / 2 Comments

Amidst the madness of the world, I consumed 54 books, 35 movies, dozens of TV programs and many podcasts this year. These were my favorites.

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS

1. “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk W. Johnson

2. “The Outsider” by Stephen King

3. “Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service” by Devin Leonard

4. “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss

5. “The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean” by Susan Casey

6. “It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree” by A.J. Jacobs

7. “The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People” by Meik Wiking

8. “Elevation” by Stephen King

9. “The Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country” by Helen Russell

10. “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker

(Honorable mentions: “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader” by Anne Fadiman, “Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship” by Isabel Vincent, “The Switch” by Joseph Finder, “I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections” by Nora Ephron, “From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death” by Caitlin Doughty, “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, “Cherries in Winter” by Suzan Colon, “Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life” by Annie Spence, “Our Bodies, Our Shelves: A Collection Of Library Humor” by Roz Warren, “How to Find Love in a Book Shop” by Veronica Henry and “Flat Broke with Two Goats” by Jennifer McGaha)

Overall reading ratio: I read 16,276 pages across 54 books — 51% fiction, 49% nonfiction; 43% male, 57% female.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1. Sense8
2. The Great British Baking Show
3. Love Your Garden
4. Grace and Frankie
5. The Kominsky Method
6. 9-1-1
7. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
8. One Day at a Time
9. A Million Little Things
10. Escape to the Country

(Honorable mentions: Timeless, The Great British Baking Show: Master Class, Santa Clarita Diet, This Is Us, Big Dreams Small Spaces, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, Elementary, The Good Doctor, Madam Secretary, Grimm, Escape to the Continent, How I Met Your Mother, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Castle Rock and Altered Carbon.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2. Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
3. Last Flag Flying
4. Feminists: What Were They Thinking
5. The Man Who Invented Christmas
6. Ready Player One
7. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
8. Unrest
9. Between the Folds
10. Avengers: Infinity War

(Honorable mentions: Bohemian Rhapsody, Shape of Water, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Molly’s Game, Love Between the Covers, Black Panther, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Tag, Game Night and Skyscraper.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
2. Small Town Dicks
3. Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
4. Criminal
5. Death, Sex and Money
6. The Anthropocene Reviewed
7. Fresh Air
8. Nocturne
9. Dear Hank and John
10. The Daily

(Honorable mentions: The Bookshelf, Everything Is Alive, 99% Invisible, Radiolab, Rumble Strip, Sidedoor, This Is Love, Let Me Google That, Awards Chatter, Reply All, Word of Mouth, The Sporkful, Outside/In, Something Wild, The Penguin Podcast, The Science of Happiness, Remembering the Passed, Back Story, You Must Remember This and I Was There Too.)